1 Month Booking Cancelled by Airbnb due to Coronavirus

[Sean433]

I had a 1 month booking from a local resident on behalf of his parents visiting from China. The booking was supposed to start in a few days. I received a message from airbnb last night that the booking was cancelled due to extenuating circumstances.

The email did not state that his parents were from the impacted zone in China so I am wondering if anyone can just cancel and use this virus as a way to cancel penalty free. Obviously, I would not want a guest that is from a high risk region to come to one of my listings however since the booking was a third party booking, I wonder how airbnb verified that his parents were from the impacted region of China.

15-20% of our guests are from China. Toronto and Vancouver attracts a lot of Chinese visitors. I am wondering how this will impact occupancy going into the busy spring/summer months. Definitely not good for bookings. Hotels, Airlines and Airbnb's are feeling the impact.

[Sean433]

Has anyone else experienced cancelled bookings due to this or are concerned about how this will affect your bookings?

[Jennifer1421]

@Sean433Just in case you hadn't seen this post:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/China-Corona-Virus-Outbreak-amp-Airbnb-Policy/td-p/1228467

[Sean433]

@Jennifer1421 

Thanks for sharing. So the communication is inconsistent. I was given no details except that this falls under extenuating circumstances. Should be interesting to see how much airbnb and hosts are affected by this economically when this is all said and done.

[Fernando1399]

I've been struggling with this for the past couple days, but now that WHO has just declared a worldwide emergency for coronavirus I am forced to protect my roommate's, my partner's and my own health. I have reached out to Airbnb for instructions on how to go through with a cancelation under the EC policy. 

I've also learned I'm among the people who are in more risk of getting infected, for conditions such as high blood pressure, overweight, and current or past smoking habits. Hope this helps anyone else who is doubting about canceling or not. Unfortunately it seems at this point we have to look out for ourselves. 

[Sean433]

I received a second cancellation today by another guest for another listing. He is coming from USA and his reason is due to the virus. This is starting to hurt and we are in slow season where bookings are low already.

[Michelle53]

"The WHO defines a global emergency — formally, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern — as “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response.” This is the sixth declared in the past decade.

Despite the emergency declaration, the WHO is not recommending any restrictions on travel or trade at this time. Countries should implement evidence-based public health policies, combat misinformation, share data, and work together to stop the spread of the virus, Adhanom said. The WHO also called for an acceleration in efforts to develop vaccines and treatments, and stressed that support be given to countries with weak health systems which might not be able to cope with the virus."   

Bold and Italics are mine.  The facts aren't going to stop people panicking, though, and cancelling travel. 

https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/30/21115357/coronavirus-outbreak-global-public-emergency-world-healt...

I'm expecting people to limit travel to Chicago because we have two cases (hospitalized in isolation at the moment, and 30 miles from Downtown).   I can't afford that either, after having a particularly slow start to the year. 

I'm hoping this all dies down before spring. 

[Sandra126]

It is going to hurt everyone financially for a while, but hopefully it will get better. Meanwhile,  Chinese planned visits might not be possble as they cannot leave china, from what i understand . I think the idea is to prevent further spread as this is rampant and certainly not limited to one region only. Let them cancel, it's what has to happen.

[Wu0]

Tourism industry officials said it was too soon to say whether the outbreak would significantly effect expectations for a recovery, saying much depends on how long the outbreak lasts and if the Chinese government extends travel restrictions to major cities.